R.I.P. Syd Barrett

[Franklin]

Just read in the news that Syd Barrett, one of the founding members of the biggest band of all time, Pink Floyd, had passed away at age 60 (January 6, 1946 – July 7, 2006).

Since he was kicked out of the band in 1968 (the other bandmembers couldn't work with him any longer) the band wrote several songs about him, about where he is and what he's doing (Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here, etc.).

He has lived as a hermit for the bigger part of his life, from his mid 20s til he died.


Syd (right) in 1967.

According to Wikipedia he died last Friday, the day Roger Waters gave a fantastic show in Ahoy', Rotterdam and where a video was shown of a young Syd Barrett in Pink Floyd. Thank god RW didn't know anything at that moment!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syd_Barrett

Shine On, you crazy diamond!

[bugg]

Ok Franklin, Steve had made a thread JUST under yours






Rip Syd Barrett, i actually thought he was already dead

[Sindënís*~]

oh my FUCKING God
I've become quite a fan of him recently(his work with PF and solo albums).. oh I can't believe it.... I really can't
He's gone now..... oh I hope he really does rest in peace.. he deserves it, I've heard he had quite a hard life after he left PF.. with disease and all....
Oh I'm really stunned..

[annemarieirene]

I used to sing my kids to sleep with "Terrapin".
God, this is such sad news.
Truly, TRULY.

"I really love you and I mean you
the star above you, crystal blue
Well, oh baby, my hairs on end about you...
I wouldn't see you and I love to
I fly above you, yes I do
well, oh baby, my hairs on end about you...

Floating, bumping, noses dodge a tooth
the fins a luminous
fangs all 'round the clown
is dark below the boulders hiding all
the sunlight's good for us
'Cause we're the fishes and all we do
the move about is all we do
well, oh baby, my hairs on end about you...

Floating, bumping, noses dodge a tooth
the fins a luminous
fangs all 'round the clown
is dark below the boulders hiding all
the sunlight's good for us
'Cause we're the fishes and all we do
the move about is all we do
well, oh baby, my hairs on end about you...

I really love you and I mean you
the star above you, crystal blue
Well, oh baby, my hairs on end about you..."

[Sindënís*~]

Oh that is so sweet Annemarie

David Bowie has some beautiful words too:

'I can't tell you how sad I feel. Syd was a major inspiration for me. The few times I saw him perform in London at UFO and the Marquee clubs during the sixties will forever be etched in my mind. He was so charismatic and such a startlingly original songwriter.
Also, along with Anthony Newley, he was the first guy I'd heard to sing pop or rock with a British accent. His impact on my thinking was enormous. A major regret is that I never got to know him. A diamond indeed.'

[annemarieirene]

This is so fucking sad.

[Saar°berry]

We heard it on the tv yesterday... I grew up with Pink Floyd. My dad is a huge fan. I wonder what he's thinking. This is truelly sad. Dunno what to say.

[RavenFae]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear this..he truly has suffered for such a long time...maybe now he can finally rest in peace

I am not a big fan of the early Pink Floyd music (Pre David Gilmour I mean) I've listened to it many times, I just never really liked it just my own opinion. I know that all the guys are really sad today for they all cared for Syd...maybe now they can get through their differences and be friends again..

truly sad... R.I.P. Syd....

[Franklin]

This is an article which also can be found on http://www.rhino.com:

Syd Barrett (1946-2006)
by E.C. Gladstone

Reclusive rock legend Syd Barrett has died.

A spokesperson for Pink Floyd has confirmed that Barrett passed on July 7, 2006 at his home in Cambridgeshire, England, from complications related to type-2 diabetes.

"Syd was a major inspiration for me. His impact on my thinking was enormous," David Bowie said upon learning of Barrett's passing. The list of musicians who would credit Barrett's influence not only on psychedelic and acid rock, but also prog, art, post-punk and trance is too long to list.

"I don't know what Swinging London would have been without him," said Joe Boyd, Pink Floyd's first producer.

Though the mists of time collapse events considerably, chronology upholds the fact that The Pink Floyd were truly the first real "psychedelic" band in late 1966-67 London, and intensely influential to almost everyone who saw their visually and aurally mind-expanding performances, centered around Barrett's distortion, feedback and echo-laden guitar work.

But Barrett, who was clearly the creative leader of the group at a mere 21, bristled at the expectations put upon pop bands—repetitious, rote performances of hit songs; screaming teen fans; miming on TV; BBC bans (their first single "Arnold Layne"), etc. Drugs—particularly LSD, cannibus and Mandrax tranquilizers—were ubiquitous, and Barrett was not one for moderation.

Midway through the making of their debut album Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (recorded at Abbey Road in the room next to the Beatles during Sgt. Pepper), Barrett became emotionally and creatively distant, appearing onstage only to detune his guitar or stare into the distance. His antics during a brief US tour later in the year were even more erratic (in LA, irritated with his trendy Vidal Sassoon perm, he dumped an entire tub of Brylcreem over his head and let it melt over his face onstage).

After writing nearly the entirety of the first album, only one Barrett song would make the second (A Saucerful Of Secrets). By January '68, the group drafted Barrett's pal Dave Gilmour to help out on guitar onstage. After four gigs with Barrett contributing little more than his presence, they decided not to bother bringing him along at all.

Years later, bassist Roger Waters would say "The band would never have fucking started without him because he was writing all the material. It couldn't have happened without him, but on the other hand it couldn't have gone on with him."

Still, Syd's shadow would loom over the group for their entire career—and not just at the couple of gigs and recording sessions he arrived at, looming and waiting to be invited in. Waters reportedly tried unsuccessfully to get Barrett to see psychiatrist RD Laing, The year after, Waters and Gilmour salvaged Barrett's first solo album sessions, and Gilmour helmed the group who backed him for his second in 1970. The group also made one four-song live appearance, and a respectable five-song Peel Session. From there, Barrett's creativity and lifestyle both seemed to take a quick downward spiral. In 1972, he formed a short-lived band Stars; two years later he returned to the studio to begin more solo work which was never finished (in fact, Barrett afterward sold the rights to his solo work back to EMI).

In 1975, Barrett appeared, unannounced, back at the Abbey Road studio while Pink Floyd were recording. Overweight, he had shaved off all his hair, including eyebrows, and was brushing his teeth while jumping up and down. His old band mates didn't even recognize him at first (when Waters did, it reportedly led him to tears—perhaps after Syd told him the music sounded "a bit old"). In a bizarre coincidence, the song they were recording was "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," for the album Wish You Were Here —both referring to Barrett.

"Brain Damage," from their previous Dark Side Of the Moon LP, also referred to Syd. And elements of "Pink," the central character in the band's masterwork The Wall, were inspired by Barrett's trajectory.

Many others never forgot Barrett either. The Sex Pistols reportedly sought him out to produce them, as did the Damned (who had to settle for Floyd's drummer Nick Mason instead). His songs have been repeatedly revived in the last 35 years, and at least two groups, Baby Lemonade and the Gigolo Aunts named themselves after Barrett songs.

Despite a respectable income from his Pink Floyd work (which Gilmour has said the band made sure he got), Barrett was apparently bankrupt in the early '80s when he finally returned home to live with his mother in Cambridge (the last time, he actually walked there from London). In later years, Barrett would only respond to his given name of Roger, not to the nickname 'Syd,' and concentrated on his interests in abstract painting and gardening. He never responded to the many acolytes, journalists, and musicians who attempted to communicate with him. Reportedly, a biopic was in the works, with interest from Johnny Depp, before the family categorically refused to negotiate rights.

Whatever Barrett's exact mental illness, it was apparently never diagnosed properly (despite some psychiatric hospital stays in the early '80s). Schizophrenia was the common assumption, but others have noted his symptoms were closer to autism or Asperger's syndrome. After a history of ulcers, he was first diagnosed with type-2 diabetes in 1998.

A statement from Pink Floyd said: "The band are naturally very upset and sad to learn of Syd's death. He was the guiding light of the early band line-up and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire."

Barrett's brother Alan said the funeral would be private.